"Passionate entry to a New Home"
It was quite a house-warming thee Australian Art Orchestra threw in its new part-time home, the Opera House. Director, Paul Grabowsky, chose to revisit the highly ambitious, highly collaborative 1997 work, Passion, inspired by Bach's Passion According to St Matthew.
'Inspired' is the operative word. Anyone expecting anything directly relating to Bach's masterpiece would have been rather puzzled. But what the AAO did present was, on occasion, abundantly inspired.
Setting itself apart from other Australian ensembles, the AAO performs large-scale compositions which exploit the improvising talents of its jazz-based musicians. The personality of the players is as intrinsic to the end product as the compositions.
For Passion Grabowsky had five composers from within the orchestra write a movement – himself, Doug de Vries, Alister Spence, Niko Schauble and John Rodgers ∆ and these movements were linked by short chorales of Grabowsky's, which pulled the work together and offered respite from the complexity and density abounding elsewhere.
Originally the chorales were sung by the crystalline voice of Christine Sullivan. This time the versatile Deborah Conway stepped in bringing an emotional commitment and earthy sensuality to bear to almost compensate for the absence of Sullivan's angelic quality.
Like the orchestra as a whole, Passion is living and evolving, with vast scope for variation from performance to performance. Movements change in content and length, such as the addition of the percussion trio at the conclusion of de Vries's Captive, musicians change, altering texture; improvisations grow.
I missed the classical guitar of de Vries. Here all guitar parts were played on the electric instrument, though the delicate duet between this and Phil SlaterÕs trumpet on the second chorale was an engrossing substitute.
Highlights included Julien Wislon's tenor saxophone on Spence's For Love, Slater's trumpet baying at the slow march towards the end of Schuable's Crucified, Sandy Evan's chilling soprano saxophone cadenza leading to the title chorale; and the raw energy of the trio of Wilson, Scott Tinkler and Elliott Dalgleish on RodgerÕs fascinating Finale.
The power of the ensembles was sometimes stupendous yet the sound remained exceptional throughout (with the use of a backdrop).
Welcome to your new home, AAO.
- Sydney Morning Herald (John Shand)
